An unexpected return
by Iam2UwhatUare2me
Summary: What wasn't supposed to happen, happened. But could it be that Aslan told them not to return because he had seen what would lie ahead if they did? The Pevensies are back in Narnia, but this time, their adventure might be catastrophique ch 5 6
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter one:_

"When are you going to just leave it?" Peter exclaimed. He wasn't exactly satisfied with his youngest sister today, but he hadn't been satisfied with her ever since they had gotten back from Narnia. It had taken his little sister, the one that always had to know everything, just about two days, to start asking questions to Peter. The major one being; why and how she would go back there and not be able to take him with. She had refused to believe that Peter could not go back, along with Susan. Even though it was Aslan who had told this to her, Aslan who was always right and made his choices for the best and always with the best reasons, she still refused to acknowledge going back without them.

"Don't you miss it?" Lucy questioned and Peter having been startled by this question, met her eyes and for the first time gave her his full attention. "I miss it." She started and Peter threw her an acknowledging look. Of course he missed it, he missed it even more now, realising that he would never return there again. After all Narnia had very much felt like a home for him, maybe even more then his home here. Everything he knew, everything that he believed in, it seemed that he had gotten that all from Narnia and that part of that all was still in Narnia. He could not yet master never coming there again.

"I miss it too." He stated and Lucy smiled warmly as she pulled him in a hug for no reason. They didn't do that nearly enough, Lucy found and although neither Peter and definitely not Edmund would ever admit it. Lucy's hugs still held a lot of emotion and comfort for them.

"I'm just not sure that me and Ed would ever be as good a help to Narnia as you and Susan were. Sometimes I realise that after all, it was the both of you that more or less saved Narnia, not me nor Ed." Lucy's voice was not seeking for pity, she was just narrating the truth, or what she believed was the truth.

"That's far from true and you know that. You might not be a talented fighter or an archer for that matter, but you have been the best help Narnia could get. Who was able to see Aslan, when the rest of us didn't? Who was able to get to him in time to save our asses. Who killed the ice queen, when both Caspian and me were not able to?" Peter could understand his sister's thoughts and worries, but he would never forget that both her and Edmund had shown to be at least as much a help to Narnia as him. He had taken the lead, but that did not mean that his brother or Lucy couldn't. They were far more than just the girl and boy they looked like. "It was you and Edmund." He stated his answer as she still had not looked convinced enough for his liking.

"Thanks." Lucy said as she realised that that just had been one of the best peptalks she had ever received, though she had intended to give him one. "I just… I can't believe your time there is gone." Lucy stated and Peter smiled warmly, although not feeling like that at all. Yes, he couldn't really believe that either.

"Sometimes I wonder if there is a part of my sister that has been left behind in Narnia." Edmund said as he startled Susan and she threw him a surprised yet confused look. It was not Edmund's way of creeping up on a person and start talking cryptically.

"Trust me, I'm here completely." She assured him, while she returned back to the paper in front of her but she couldn't focus on it anymore, she barely remembered what was the meaning of the words that stood down on the paper. It was because she had gotten unfocussed, realising how much truth Edmund's words held and she was afraid that he had uncovered that what she had been hiding all along.

"No, you're not." Edmund said, as she closed the book in front of her and turned her attention on him completely, he went to sit on her bed close to the desk she was sitting at. She sighed when she realised that he was trying to read through her wit his piercing eyes and tried to keep herself strong. She missed Narnia more then she could have ever imagined. "I don't get why you're trying to hide that fact. Me, Pete and Lu, we can relate."

"You actually can't." She whispered more to herself then to him, as she hadn't meant to say those words out loud. But she had and she was afraid that this time she had really said too much. She didn't want any of her brothers, nor her sister to know. She didn't want them to show any sign of pity.

"Susan, we were there, remember. Even if I would have closed my eyes, I would still be able to picture what happened there. You can't go on and pretend like nothing happened, now." Edmund started, while he thought about his words that he had spoken then. _"I'm older and I don't think I want to understand."_ Maybe those words had not entirely been the truth, for if he understood, he would be able to know how Susan must be feeling.

He was however smart enough to realise, that that moment and mostly that person, held the most part of the reason why Susan would be missing Narnia.

"Doesn't mean that I don't want to pretend like it never happened." Susan's counter was spoken out harshly and her eyes also turned away from Edmund.

"You don't mean that." Edmund stated and he knew he was right.

"Why not? We lived in Narnia for fifteen years and then came back. It was odd and it was hard, but it didn't take us that long to have our lives back together." Susan stated, while she stood up from her chair and looked at Edmund disbelieving. He was far from the person she had guessed that this conversation was going to be with and yet she couldn't stop herself.

"You did! Pete and me and especially Lucy, we hadn't even gotten our lives sorted back together when we returned here." Edmund exclaimed, knowing that it was not always good to interrupt his sister, but feeling the need to put this off the chest. Susan had been the one telling everyone to try and forget Narnia, Susan had been the first one to think that they were never going to return there and Susan had been the only one, who'd almost been disappointed when they had finally gotten back there.

"Well I did, and now… now it seems that I can't anymore. Because every time I wake up and realise that I'm here in my bed in England, I'm disappointed." Susan spoke out her pain. Literally pain, it pained her to be here and not there.

"You miss Narnia."

"I miss Caspian." She finally spoke out the truth, that Edmund had known but she hadn't been able to admit just yet. There weren't any other two months that had ever seemed to last this long as the two months that had passed since their return.

"I don't get why mom wanted us to go here." Edmund stated as he walked slowly over the green grass and looked over to his both sisters and brother, who seemed to be just as not-excited as he was, about this park. Yes, it held more green then the rest of Finchley, but that did not mean that he hadn't seen much more green in Narnia. This was nothing compared with even the less radiant parts there.

"Because mom is quiet sure that we'd be mesmerized by the green that they had put together here." Susan spoke wisely, remembering that there were very few people here, who knew about their adventures in Narnia.

"I think it's beautiful." Lucy stated, while she picked up a few leaves from the ground and threw them at the person standing closest to her. The second the leaves touched Peter's face, Lucy knew she was in big trouble and ran off. Although her head was still full with adventures and wisdoms from her time as an adult. It was getting easier to just be a child again. Unlike the rest of the family , she still enjoyed being the child and mostly also being treated like one.

"Oh you little.." Peter said threatingly, when the earth suddenly shook and he crossed gazes with Susan. It was not hard enough to thrown them off their feet, but it was strong enough to find it very unnatural. Then earth shook again, quiet powerfully this time, causing Susan to have to grab Edmund's arms to stand straight, who on his own supported back on Susan to remain on his feet. It also caused Lucy to smack against the ground, her hands outstretched in front of her to soften her fall. Only Peter seemed strong enough to remain upstraight on his own and he looked around surprised, it become evident that all other people had barely felt a thing.

Lucy pushed herself from the ground, running towards him and taking his hand in her as she was starting to get a little bit scared and also Edmund and Susan walked closer to them. As they looked over the park, scanning anything suspicious, one of the larger trees of the park, very close to them suddenly made an awful sound, the ripping of roots where heard and then suddenly it came crashing down, Lucy yelling in fear as it missed them by barely a few feet. Any of them could have died, if they had been standing a little bit further.

Lucy now grabbed the hand of her other brother too as more trees were starting to fall down, making awful sounds in the process, but most of the fear had left her when she had started to feel something entirely else. Magic had come over her and she knew well enough that her siblings felt the same thing. As Susan took Peter's hand, unknowingly finishing their circle, the earth started moving again, now trembling under their feet and their eyes watched with astonishment as the whole earth seemed to split in front of them.

Lucy closed her eyes, while squeezing both her brothers hand's as a sudden blow of air more powerful then any she had ever felt pushed them towards the ravine. As she trusted the magic of Narnia in this, she could almost enjoy the fall, the air sweeping past her. But then she felt one of the hands she was holding slipping away from her and although she tried to hold on to it tightly, the hand was soon gone. Then she hit ground, her body smacking against the ground again. It felt like a cushion though it was just ground and she had just fallen at least fifty feet. When she opened her eyes and look sideways her heart cried when as predicted only Edmund was there.

Lucy was immediately one hundred percent sure that it was Narnia where they had landed in, but wasn't so happy with it, as she had always been. Narnia felt a lot less wonderful without Peter and Susan at her side.

"But I was holding his hand, they were right beside us." Lucy exclaimed as Edmund released her hand trying to get an idea of where they had landed. "Aslan had said that they would not return." Edmund replied.

"So he pulls us away from there with them standing right next to us? Aslan isn't supposed to be that cruel. He shouldn't do this so soon. It was only yesterday that Peter told me how much he misses Narnia." Lucy replied. She had always been the biggest fan of Aslan, but could not master how he could do something like that, knowing that that would hurt Peter and most probably Susan too, if not Susan even more.

"It was only yesterday that Susan confided to me that she misses Caspian." Edmund spoke, and Lucy suddenly looked down. It was that another though had entered her mind and while she tried not to think about it, she soon realised that she couldn't.

"He's most likely dead isn't he?" She questioned and Edmund threw her an understanding look.

"In the year that we were gone, over twenty generations passed here. Mathematically, Caspian should be about 200 years if he'd still be alive. Even if he had a long life, he would've died over one hundred years ago." Edmund said and Lucy nodded, having her fears confirmed. So then it was just going to be the two of them, then.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter two:_

"It looks so peaceful." Lucy commented as she looked around. It was quiet, yet it wasn't completely quiet, cause when the wind blew, the leaves on the ground and the trees made sounds, sometimes she thought she also heard something else, but mostly that was probably imagination. Over all, it looked, sounded and was peaceful, like Narnia always was, if it was not in danger. It all just made her wonder even more, why they had been send back.

"Yeah, well, the more peaceful the better." Edmund replied, as he knew exactly what his sister was thinking, there wasn't any sign of trouble, yet that didn't mean that there really wasn't any.

"I miss them." Lucy suddenly stated and Edmund looked at her both confused and surprised. "Peter; who always makes the plans, Susan who tries to make sense of everything, you know. Now everything is just so…"

"Quiet." Edmund stated and Lucy nodded. She missed hearing Peter's voice around her. Coming up with the ideas, the plans, taking the lead, which she knew no one else could do the same. It was not that no one would be better, just not for the four of them, he was their leader. Susan, Susan was the wise girl, the one who would not follow something she did not believe in and would always make time to make Lucy see what she really intended, something that Peter sometimes forgot to do. And so together they managed to ease each other, Susan being realistic, the thinker, Peter more dreamy, the doer. And now she just missed them both so much.

"Do we even have a plan, Ed?" Lucy questioned and Edmund looked back at her. Oh, he had a plan, just one that would only start to work when they'd be faced with more then just trees, rocks and leaves.

"Everything will be fine, Luce, we'll find our way, even if we can't see it just yet." He replied and although she believed that that made no real sense, she nodded.

Suddenly both their heads shot up, as horses could be heard from the distance, getting louder and louder. Although it meant that they'd finally face a living person or animal or Narnian or maybe even Telmarine, Edmund pulled Lucy down, hiding behind a bush. He first wanted to see what they'd be facing.

Lucy understood his silent hint to remain quiet and tried to look through and just over the bush without letting any part of her be seen, as the sounds came closer and closer and suddenly she noticed one then two and at the end she saw at least six horses and riders, all human, though not having the southern, dark skinned dark haired, appearance of Telmarines.

Finally happy at seeing someone to talk to, to try and figure out what was going on in Narnia, Lucy felt attracted to jump out of her hiding spot, but Edmund stopped her for some unknown reason.

Or at least it stayed unknown for a few seconds, then suddenly new sounds evolved and right before Lucy and Edmund's eyes another group of people came to view and a fight evolved. Watching in shock, the action in front of them didn't last that long as the first group was soon all killed. Too shocked to move or do anything else, Edmund wrapped his arms around his sister, pulling her head against his chest, while he saw several horses run off, their riders lost forever. One of the men had fallen so close to them that he could smell the blood.

Not knowing what to do, they stayed hidden like that, Edmund didn't gather who the good guys were, the ones alive or the ones dead, if there were good guys at all.

Suddenly a movement close to him, caught his attention and he tried to put both him and Lucy still out of sight for the person that was walking past the bush but was unsuccessful.

"Who are you?" A woman having noticed them asked. She was still carrying a sword and Edmund swore that he could detect blood at the top. She was beautiful with long curly black hair falling over her shoulders and Edmund estimated her being around twenty-five, thirty years the most. He scrambled to stand straight, pulling his sister up too.

"You're just kids." The woman stated as she looked at him closely, before his sister got her attention and for some reason, he believed or hoped better yet, that these were the good guys, or at least the ones who didn't seem to want to kill them.

"I'm Edmund and this is my little sister, Lucy. We're lost." Edmund said, not knowing how to react to this woman appropriately as two men appeared next to her.

"My lady, we need to get going. We believe that this group was just a sent out, more will come here soon." One of them informed her and his reaction to her made Edmund believe that she was some kind of leader to this group of about ten soldiers.

"All right." She replied, taking her attention momentarily from the kids in front of her to look at Steven. "Can you just give this a minute?" She questioned and he nodded immediately before walking back to the group, leaving her alone with Edmund and Lucy in front of her.

"So, you're lost. Do you have any idea where you parents are ?" She questioned. It was weird but their names almost sounded familiar to her and she had this sudden feeling that told her, that they should sound familiar too.

"Back in England." Lucy stated as she pulled herself out of her brother's grasp. She did not feel any need to be scared of this woman in front of her. She felt that she could help them.

"Actually, we need to find the king of Narnia." She said and Dorothy raised her eyebrows, staring both shocked and confused to the little girl in front of her.

"Kijan." She called out to the group of soldiers, standing further, who were all preparing to leave again. They had taken most of the possessions of the soldiers they had just killed.

One man looked up and quickly walked towards her. "These kids want to see Caspian." She said and he looked at her curiously before looking at Edmund and Lucy.

"What did you just say?" Edmund questioned, as both him and his sister, we're not sure that they could have heard the word Caspian.

"You want to see our king, Caspian … the tenth, don't you?"

"Caspian the tenth? As in nephew of Miraz, handsome with medium-long brown hair?" Lucy questioned, as she squeezed her brother's hand and suddenly felt the need to jump in the air and cheer. She had never thought she'd be able to see him again.

"Yes of course, who else?" Dorothy questioned, slowly she was starting to realise something, or at least she was hoping something, she knew some things about the kings and queens of old, not close to enough but some things. She knew from Caspian that there were four of them, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy and that the youngest two, would one day, hopefully still in his life, return, appearing as young children, yet being so much more.

"Why don't we introduce ourselves again?" Edmund let out, knowing now that he could trust the woman in front of them, though she was still looking at them with crazy appearing wide eyes.

"No, I don't think you need to introduce yourselves again, I know who you are, you're them, you're the kings and queens of old. King Edmund, the Just, Queen Lucy, the valiant." Kijan standing behind Dorothy dropped to his knees when he heard the names and also Dorothy bowed deeply in front of them. "Of course we will bring you to see our king, I'm sure he will be thrilled to see you again."

"I don't know if there is any other way of stopping this, Casp. It's not an easy decision to make, but sometimes you have no other choice." Devon gave Caspian his opinion. Of everyone Caspian knew, he was one of the few who called Caspian just by his name and that had always come as a relief. My king, my lord and mostly my majesty, it was still something that he was getting used to. His first few months as king had been brutal, that is to say the least. He had needed to prove himself and although he had predicted that, he still could not believe, how little trust he had received in the beginning.

"I feel like all I bring to Narnia is trouble."

"Caspian, you know as well as I do, that you wouldn't be honoured and respected by so many people, if that was really all that you brought here. You brought al these people, peace, freedom, a king that they respect. This is a large country, there'll always be trouble, it is how you handle it, that shows you as a good king." Devon replied to his friend. He was the second youngest member of the council of thirteen and had, probably for that reason, turned out to be one of Caspian's few friends.

"You want me to choose for war, don't you?" Caspian questioned, as he turned towards his friend. Devon was probably his biggest support in this entire castle, but that didn't mean that both men, often disagreed. It was not that Caspian wasn't smart enough to realise that a war was what was left for him to do. It was that he wasn't as enthusiastic about it as Devon. He hated it, while Devon was ready to do what was needed to be done. Caspian just found that war always brought the things that this people did not need, especially not now.

"I don't want war, but if this last mission doesn't work out, there's not much else you can do to stop this, and you really NEED to stop this. Or do you rather want entire Narnia to fall in the hands of Krelin and become part of Elzar? I don't believe you would be much of a respected king then." Devon told him, knowing that this was more about needing to know the truth, then supporting and maybe also comforting his friend.

It was not that Caspian was a bad king, far from, he was a very gentle king and sometimes also a little bit too much. He knew Caspian wanted to show how different he was from his uncle and he respected that, but he had sometimes needed to stop Caspian from taking that a bit too far.

"You are right." Caspian said, as he turned his attention away from Devon, to look out of his windows, where he could see quite far what beauty Narnia possessed.

"Of course I am. Doesn't mean that I want to be. But Elzar is increasing, quickly. Krelin has taken over part of archenland and the Lone Islands. Within weeks if not days, he'll manage to take over part of Calormen, when that happens, he'll realise that he isn't that completely chanceless against Narnia. You probably won't need to start a war yourself." Devon said and Caspian knew he was right. About two months, that was all the time that there had been real peace in Narnia. But after those two months, new trouble had already started brewing. It carried the name Elzar. It had started as a small unknown and forgotten land between Archenland and Calormen, where a leader had stood up, promising the people living there that they would no longer be this small and unimportant piece of land and boy, had he been right.

In the months that followed he'd managed to get a large crowd behind him and when even people living in Archenland had started to see him as a better king then their own, he had invaded it and taken over large parts. The war had lasted a short two weeks and it had made Elzar ten times as big. Now half a year later, it's size was even more enlarged and with part of Calormen, they would have doubled again.

Five months ago, was the first time that Caspian had feared Elzar, when a few villages on the border with Elzar had been put in flames and some deaths had occurred. His first immediate action, strengthening the power of the border and stopping any intrusion viciously had worked and had made the border between them firmer, Krelin had not dared doing any damage to Narnia since then, but now two weeks ago, Krelin had made a new attempt at taking in part of Narnia and a larger mission had been sent there, they had hoped that with that they could gain the same amount of success. Dorothy, one of Caspian's closest friends and her fiancée Kijan had been send with them, functioning as the armies leader till they would arrive there. There Burger would take over the lead. The strong centaur was already leader of all the groups there, Telmarin soldiers but also the group of seventeen centaurs who had first been there and had been able to stop large amounts of deaths and destruction before the first help had arrived. Dorothy would have to stay there for mere days as then she would return with all the information she could gather. Trouble was that on their way towards the border, or at the border self, or during her ride back, Dorothy could easily fall in a trap and be killed.

"I know this all Devon, but I am awaiting the news of Dorothy and Kijan, I need to know what exactly is going on at the border before making any move. If things are going well there, Krelin will most likely wait before attacking, to gain more power and allegiances but also to make us think that we should not fear him."

"We're not going to buy that, you know that his army is strong enough to fear him."

"I do not fear him." Caspian's words were spoken out as such a calm statement that Devon, even with the anxiety he was feeling himself, believed that Caspian believed that. "But we need to anticipate him, wait for him, I do not want to start a war where it is not necessary, I want him to give me a really good reason to attack, I want him to make the first move."

"And I don't get that! Us attacking first will not only hold the element of surprise it will also lead the war away from Narnia into Elzar, which could diminish the deaths of our people." Devon replied.

"I know your opinion by now Devon. And if there is no other option then war, if his threat gets too big without him making the first attack we will make the first move, but if I can avoid a war, …. can you understand that that comes first on my list?" Devon knew it was some kind of rhetorical question, it was the part that Caspian liked the least about Devon, the will for war part. Caspian could still very well remember the men he had lost at the attack on Miraz's castle, an attack which had reasons to do, but had never been necessary and could have easily been avoided, of course thinking back he would have avoided it and as a king he had promised himself, but more his people that he would not make such a reckless decision again. Obviously looking back on it, Caspian himself could not have avoided it, for it had been Peter's decision and many had stood behind him.

"Besides, before we decide anything we have to await Dorothy's return. I believe we can expect that to happen in one of the following days, if she didn't gain too much trouble. I want you to call the council of thirteen together as soon as she does. Then we'll discuss this further. In the meantime our border defence is strong enough and griffins will be send out immediately if they really need out help." Caspian said further to Devon, not having expected an answer. Devon's glare had many times worked better then his words.

"Of course you are right, my king." Devon was never one to give in for defeat and the tone with which he said Caspian's title, which on it's own almost never left Devon's mouth, said nothing of defeat just of postponing.

"I do believe I am right, though you are not the only one who doesn't see it the same way. But the council and you should learn by now, that the decisions that I make are well thought through, I would never take them if I would know I could not convince you of their rightfulness." Caspian's words held only a small part of his irritation at the council, not Devon, he was his friend, but there were few other friends of Caspian in the council, many showed many times their obvious distrust in Caspian, many seemed to forget that Caspian was in all his rights able to end the council whenever he wanted. They had forgotten that this was a gift, a way of democratic living that Caspian did not need to give, but wanted to give to them as long as it would be useful.

"The council troubles have little to do with your decisions, more with your …"

"Age, right?" Caspian's tone held now more of his irritation. "I don't really understand that, yes, originally my uncle made it a law that someone had to be at least twenty-one years to be crowned king, but that had just been his way of keeping the thrown out of my hands. The older I would get, the older a king would have to be, originally it was only eighteen years and I remember very well, partly thanks to you and still thank you for that, my eighteenth birthday, which was months ago."

"It is not only your age, Caspian, most kings, if not all kings, were married, or had at least someone who soon would be his wife. You have not shown any interest in a woman though many have been willing to bound themselves to you. Remind me again of why?" This was another topic that stood high on the list of Devon's favourites. Caspian was not gay, that he knew, but Caspian had not shown any interest in a woman since Devon knew him, another thing that was so different between both males. Where Caspian in his ten months of knowing Devon had had no girlfriend, or special lady friend, Devon had too many to count.

"Because I have not yet seen anyone that I would be able to spend the rest of my life with."

"Would be able, or would want?" Now Devon stood suddenly on icy grounds. To guard and protect himself Caspian had never told Devon much about beloved queen Susan, not anyone really. Of course many were there when she had intimately said goodbye, but no one really knew how much Susan had sparkled and caught Caspian's heart. Till now and probably for another while, Susan would prevent any woman of catching his attention, the memory of her greatness after eleven months was still too fresh for someone to be able to live up to. Queen Susan was an off-topic for Devon, not one to get into, although he barely knew that, he knew little of how much power Susan still had over Caspian, he would also never understand it, at least not till he would meet her himself.

"Didn't I tell you about Theresa?" She was a well used excuse for Caspian, as she had been one of the few who Caspian believed could almost touch the same greatness that Susan had held. Not that he had fallen for her, but the girl, only sixteen, yet already having gone through so much, held a special place in his heart.

"She's the maid." Devon's reply had been predicted, he always reacted on her like that. Another thing that was so different between Devon and Caspian. Caspian looked at every woman with the same feelings, for him a princess or a maid or a farmer's daughter, could all be amazing, maybe the maid even more then the princess. For Devon, a maid or a farmer's daughter, could be pretty, but only the princess could be amazing.

"Exactly so that's not going to happen."

"But if you would really want to spend the rest of your life with her, you would definitely try harder, I'm the one to hold on to the rules, you're the one to break them remember." Rules, his whole youth had been caught up in rules made by his uncle, but with him gone even now, Caspian was bound to many rules. Rules about his appearance, rules about not sneaking out of the castle at any giving time, rules like, not fighting in a war as losing their king was a lot worse then losing a thousand soldiers, which of course Caspian did not follow and rules surrounding the woman he would ultimately have to find and marry.

"You don't really want to spend the rest of your life with her." Devon stated and Caspian sighed. He didn't want to lie, but if he didn't lie, he would have to tell Devon about Susan and then … trouble would really begin.

"All right you might be rig …." Saved by the bell Caspian could almost jump in relief as a loud banging of the castle bell was heard. Devon stood closest to the window, trying to spot what all the commotion was about. "Dorothy?" Caspian's question came before he had a chance to look out of the window himself.

"It seems so."


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter three:_

As Peter opened his eyes, the first thing he detected was darkness, luckily just before he started to suspect that the fall had left him blind, shades were starting to form. Slowly making more sense, they came together to the forms of two small fuzzy people. He shot up, sitting straight and stupidly, but also habitually tried to grab for a sword, which wasn't there of course. There shouldn't be one either because he was in England, they didn't use swords here anymore, did they?

But was he still in England? As the people were starting to get clearer, they turned out to be dwarfs, there weren't any dwarfs in England, nor houses like the one he was currently in, nor clothing like they were wearing. "Who are you?" He questioned, as he pushed himself off whatever he was sitting on and only then noticed that he had been lying on a bed and that his head had been bandaged up, presumably done by the people staring at him. Meaning, they had only helped him but why? Why was he here and what had happened? He remembered he had fallen, something to do with falling trees maybe one of them had fallen on him? He couldn't exactly remember.

And then suddenly a completely other question, one more important then all the rest came to him. Where were his brother and sisters?

"You shouldn't move that quickly." One of the two spoke as he tried to push Peter back into a sitting position. "You have quiet a deep cut on your forehead."

"Where am I ? Is this Narnia?"

"Not anymore." The other one said as he signalled his friend to let Peter go and then walked off himself, giving Peter more time to study his surroundings. It was a small room, in Narnian style, but with no windows.

"You've landed in one of the newer parts of Elzar, boy. Getting back to Narnia will probably not be that easy. I may say, getting to the surface without being killed, will not be that easy." The dwarf's friend explained further.

"But I have to. Where are my brother and sisters? Why aren't they here?" Peter asked further, following the two dwarves.

"We found you on your own, boy, there was no one else in sight. You should be glad that we were the ones to find you, otherwise you'd be spending the rest of you life locked up in Krelin's castle, if you're lucky."

"Krelin, who's Krelin?" Peter questioned, as he was trying to absorb all the information that they were giving to him. So he had landed back in Narnia, on some unexplained way, something that till shortly ago, had seemed impossible, still seemed impossible. Except that this wasn't Narnia anymore, apparently this part had been conquered, only Peter could not remember any land called Elzar. It seemed that as suspected a lot of years had passed since they had left.

"Our new king. He's never been seen as of yet, some even suspect him not existing at all, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't hold a lot of power. He managed to extend his land from one village, to a grand country, almost as big as what's left of Narnia. And that all, in a few months time. He must have some dark power for it seems that if you walk around in his land for more then a few days, even if you hated him and protested against him before, you will follow him then, even give up all for him, or her, like I said no one knows how he even looks like. He's been gathering a lot of followers." The talkative one said, while the other seemed to not like so much that his friend was giving this stranger so much information. For all they knew, he might be a spy of Krelin.

"A few months time? So in a few months time he's managed to take over a large part of Narnia?" Peter exclaimed, though obviously he had not expected to come back, but that might be because Aslan had not expected such great problems in the future, maybe Aslan had decided, although seeming impossibly, to change his mind.

"Large? Walk two miles towards the North and you arrive back in Narnia, walk three miles the other way and you've passed the former border of Elzar. No, Krelin hasn't been able to defeat any Narnian army yet, our king would not let that happen. The Telmarin who saved Narnia, is not going to let Narnia fall in the hands of Krelin." The talkative one explained further while Peter's head had suddenly shot up, causing him the realise that he did should have taken it a little more easier as the throbbing head ache started to really bother him. It was just that through the last sentence he wondered if it could be that not as many years had passed here as he had first suspected.

"The Telmarin who saved Narnia? You speak of king Caspian the tenth? He's still the king of Narnia?" Peter asked.

"Look, I don't know who you are but what you are asking makes no sense. Who are you?" The other one signalled his talkative friend to stop talking. Something about this boy standing before them made him wonder if this boy, was really just a boy.

"I know I don't make much sense, but do you know how long Caspian has been your king? Or the king of Narnia?"

"Barely a year." The grumpy one said, while he looked at the boy curiously. "Why?"

"So instead of letting Narnia have the peace it deserves, he just leads them into a new war." Peter said, more telling this to himself then to the dwarves standing in front of him. He'd never been Caspian's biggest supporter, not from when he met him till he left him, and witnessed him kissing his sister. But he had truly believed that he would have been a good king. Now what good king, would be able to lose part of a land, he not even had had for a good year.

"You know, are you sure you're standing on the Narnian side? Cause boy, you could've fooled me." The grumpy one was starting to regret more and more that he saved this boy out of Krelin's hands.

"I am on Narnian side." Peter made out strongly and convincingly. Just not really on Caspian's side. "You want me to show it to you, then get every supporter of Narnia together!"

"You're just a boy, you think we're going to trust you as a leader?" The grumpy one made out.

"All right, what do I need to do to proof you that I can help you." Peter let out staring both the dwarves down with a stern and very kinglike look, though it was not enough to convince them.

"How about we'll give you a sword and you show some of your bravery." The not so grumpy one said, looking towards his friend for approval. The grumpy one nodded shortly, as the other was an even better fighter then him, the boy could on no way be better then his friend, who had trained his skills for over ten years.

So he did not expect the reaction Peter gave him. "Too easy." He smirked, his eyes twinkling at being able to train his best capacity again, best active capacity that was, his own sword had always been the extension of his arm, not something separately from him, he had yet to be beaten by someone after his first year of training. With another sword he did not do all that bad either.

"Too easy!!" The dwarf smirked back, obviously not anticipating the strong fighter in Peter.

"All right, if I win this, you will get me every follower you can and we travel towards the castle. If I lose … I will follow your lead." Peter would of course keep himself to the promise he made, although he could not yet see him following anyone's other lead then his, fifteen years of being the high king had caused that little inconvenience.

"Deal! Now give him a sword." The look the dwarf send Peter was supposed to make him tremble in fear, but it had little effect. The only effect it did have was Peter throwing him an almost copy of the look and this one did manage the dwarf to start doubting. This boy was either incredibly stupid, or incredibly talented. At the end he could take both, winning would of course boast his ego, but losing could give them a leader that could actually make a change here.

"You seem stressed." It was an understatement, Caspian was more then stressed, he had not slept in a week, too much going on in his head, he was a complete mess and he wondered why the normally so cynical Trumpkin would waste this opportunity to tell him that he looked like crap.

"I think you would be fairly right at saying that." Caspian let out, turning his head towards Trumpkin for less then a second before gazing out of the window again.

"You shouldn't get yourself worked up so much about this. Dorothy's mission was far from a complete disaster."

"You're right again, it wasn't a complete disaster… just a normal one." His sigh lasted for several seconds as he turned towards Trumpkin again, wondering what it was that could keep the dwarf smiling.

"You know Casp, look at it from the positive side, Dorothy came out all right together with Kijan, we got the information we wanted, we lost only a few of our soldiers, we …"

"They got attacked six times.. on the way towards the border on its own. Krelin has groups of followers all through Narnia, it's not the information that I wanted. We shouldn't have lost any soldier. And since when do you look at things from the positive side, Trumpkin? Really, did I miss something?" Caspian sighed again, a probably fifth time in a few minutes. No he wasn't the most troubled with the complete failure the mission had been, cause Trumpkin was right at that, they had gotten almost all that they wanted, their army minus a dozen had gotten at the border, Dorothy and Kijan had gotten back here alive with the right information and …. Something more and it was the something more that troubled Caspian.

He loved having Lucy back and okay, he didn't mind having Edmund around either, though their return, them two, made the painful truth obvious again, Susan would not return, ever, it was getting harder to pretend that it was for the better. There was something else that troubled him, it was that no matter how thrilled he was about Lucy and Edmund being back, it would also show that he, Caspian, the Telmarin who saved Narnia, was obviously according to Aslan not strong enough, not good enough to handle this on his own. So Aslan send help and Caspian would just have to accept that he couldn't even rule Narnia safely for a year on his own, a painful truth.

"I should have predicted this, should have send more scouts." Caspian put out the blame on himself, like he always did, no matter who's idea it would be, or who did what wrong, to Caspian, the king always took the fall.

"You could not have prevented any of what happened, you acted well, you really should stop paining yourself over this."

"Now, I'm really curious where the real Trumpkin has gone. For he has always been to first one to give critique and the last one to call something well." Caspian was very right at saying that, it was true that Trumpkin saw flaws in every action in every plan and mostly he had been right by saying that too.

"Oh I can give you critique, I can say the hell with Sabor, that man always does his own thing, he thinks because he's fifty that he's got more wisdom then anyone else, he's more stupid then a vegetable." Trumpkin let out part of his frustration. "And Enigio? What's up with him? Sometimes I wonder if he has any brains at all! And don't get me started on Devon…"

"Okay stop right there, Devon has not done anything wrong." Caspian didn't mind Trumpkin putting his thoughts in words, Sabor, the indeed fifty years old and so oldest member of the council and standing third in leading the army, always had a mouthful of complaints about every single word uttered out by Caspian and never had a better plan himself. And then of course Enigio, the man that Caspian probably despised the most, but had too many power in Narnia and a too good relationship with the neighbouring Calormen to afford to put him out of the council. But when it came to Devon, people knew better then to speak bad about him, for he had been the only one opening to Caspian and had become for that, his friend. His first friend that was, as Trumpkin refused to acknowledge Caspian as a friend, instead Caspian was someone he could endure.

"Of course not." But Trumpkin's words were forced, it was a known truth that Trumpkin and Devon were far from friends. "But besides them, I can name many flaws about every single person that sits in your council, except …"

"Yourself?"

"You. I believe that it is in my right to judge and criticise every person of what he does, as long as I believe I could have done it better. You're not perfect Caspian, even a king is allowed to make misjudgements, if it doesn't have too big consequences of course, but I don't know anyone who could have done it better in your position." Trumpkin meant those words, he had softened up completely towards the boy-king over the last months, though already having been rather soft in the beginning. It was probably by fighting alongside one person that you got to know and respect him the best, Trumpkin was one of the few of the council who had experienced that. Sadly enough maybe that was why Trumpkin was one of the few who therefore knew Caspian and respected him.

"Not even the kings and queens of old?" With them back, or at least part of them back, Caspian felt even more failure.

His question silenced Trumpkin who had to think that through, there were few people who had earned Trumpkin's respect, Caspian being one of them, Lucy, Susan, Edmund and sometimes Peter, being others of them, Aslan, Reepicheep, who Trumpkin still had trouble with acknowledging that he handled a sword better then himself and Glenstorm, the strong centaur who knew how to lead but also knew how to follow, being the last ones. "They weren't here, they neither were meant to be here, neither belonged here, so no, you were the only one."

"It does please me to hear you say that." Caspian let out the best he could. He could not really say thank you, for it didn't really help, it didn't change his mind, it didn't do much except let Caspian know that Trumpkin was still behind him the whole way and so that pleased him.

"Don't worry, my majesty, there will come a time when you will also believe it."

"Feisty, aren't you?" The man said while he was staring her up an down and Susan shivered. She must have gotten caught up in a very bad nightmare and was going to wake up any second now, hopefully even less then a second. This couldn't be real, right? First this looked a lot like Narnia, which was already something that could only happen in dreams and second, this looked nothing like Narnia, the room she was in, had a table, a chair and one seemingly Telmarine man, who threw her a look that warned her that he had little reason to keep her alive and she'd better listen to him. If she really had landed back in Narnia, this couldn't really be happening to her, or she at least hoped that. Because the nightmare had been going on for a while now and nothing as of yet, made it seem that she was about to wake up. Besides that, she was quiet certain people did not notice when they were in a dream and when they did, they mostly, if not always weren't, but that couldn't be, because that would be bad.

"Just stay away from me!" Susan said warningly. She had woken up in this place, her head throbbing, though she could not remember being knocked unconscious. After a few seconds of pure fear, she had decided to act and considering the dumb ass had not tied her up, had picked up the closest thing that she believed could really hurt the guy if necessary, a plate. She could not believe how Narnia, if this was even Narnia had turned hostile, very hostile and her heart only beat faster wondering where her brothers and sister might have landed, and why they weren't together.

When the man put a step closer to her, smirking and obviously enjoying the situation, she threw the plate at him, running away, just before she reached the door of the house, she shoved the chair to the man running behind her hopefully slowing him down, before she exited the house.

She immediately felt the sun shining on her face and she was surrounded by nothing else but woods, the greenery and the perfect blue sky, the first thing indicating her that she might have truly landed in the still magical place called Narnia. But she didn't have time to consider any of these things as she heard the breaking of the wood and the growl of a very pissed of man behind her. She looked back once before running at her maximum speed, trying to dodge the low branches but barely succeeding in that, quickly her arms, that she had outstretched in front of her to protect at least her face, were cut open and bleeding, but she barely felt it. She just kept on running, cause behind her she kept hearing the footsteps of her follower. She turned a sudden left, allowing herself to cast a glance behind her, for if the man was able to follow her, he must also be able to see her and indeed, the figure of the man was very clear and her heart started speeding even harder. Losing him immediately had been her only shot, as the run was already tiring her down and he would manage to catch up with her soon.

She then suddenly heard the man laughing behind her, which scared her only more and she started to run even faster. However suddenly another man appeared in front of her, carrying such a resemblance to the man following her that there was no other explanation then that this man was either him himself, which was impossible, unless she had the luck that this really was some awful nightmare, or his twin. Either way, this man would surely not want to help her.

She could barely stop herself from running right into his arms, but as she desperately tried to slow down, her foot ironically hit a root and she fell down painfully on her stomach her bloody arms hitting the ground before her body, causing dirt and branches to sting in the cuts. She reacted in an instant rolling at her side, knowing well enough that lying flat down left you very vulnerable, but it could do nothing to help her case, she was in big trouble.

The man smirked at the sight and bended down so that his eyes met hers and she crawled to try to get as far away from him as she could. She breathed deeply as she heard another pair of approaching footsteps and she saw how her follower greeted his twin.

"I leave for ten minutes and she nearly escapes?" The twin questioned, seemingly disappointed in his brother. "Yeah, well she's a lot feistier then I suspected." His brother replied.

"She's a scared little girl, how much trouble can she bring?" He questioned further, while Susan looked up at him and couldn't believe how much she wanted to be as strong as Peter or even Edmund now. With bow and arrow she was nearly unstoppable, but without them, she was indeed just a scared little girl. "I know, I know, she just caught me of guard." He defended himself.

"Well don't screw up, Dar. We promised her as an offering. Do you know what would happen if we showed up empty handed after the promise that we made?" The twin brother questioned and although most of their attention was diverted away from her, Susan knew she had no chance if she would try to get away again.

"I know, all right."

"You aren't having second thoughts have you?" The twin suddenly questioned as his gaze went to Susan momentarily before focussing again on his brother.

"No of course not. This girl is all the luck we needed." Dar replied, as he mischievously smiled towards Susan and she shuddered. Really, Narnia was definitely not anything like Narnia anymore, Susan would never have been able to name the cruel country she had landed in, Narnia.


	4. Chapter 4

I changed some things about the first three updates, so you might want to check them out again first, before reading further. I'm sorry it's been a while since I've updated, but I'm afraid that's not about to change particularly soon, life's a bit crazy at the moment and with currently writing four stories at ones, it's hard sometimes to find the right inspiration for the right story.

So I apologise for that, I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter and … REVIEW!!!!!

_Chapter four:_

*******

"Hey." Lucy's voice was soft, very childlike and Caspian put a smile on his face though not yet turning towards her, he was too intend on staring into nothing. He went to smiling because he didn't need her to know how much it pained him, to have her and Edmund so close to him, but not Susan. But he had known this, had prepared himself for this, not accepted it, he would never, so he felt no obligations to show Lucy that there was something that stopped him from truly enjoying having her back here, because he did enjoy having her back here. He had become very fond of the little girl, that was so very much a big girl, she was the only one of the four that he would have very much liked to have as a sibling. Not Peter because the authority, the strength of Peter made him jealous, not Edmund, because, he didn't really know why, except that Edmund stood so much behind his brother that Peter's dislike of him, was felt just as much by Edmund. And definitely not Susan, because … he liked her on a completely different way.

Lucy at her side, did not know really what to think about Caspian, though he was silent, in his defence he never really had been the talkative guy. But still, Lucy believed, knew, that Caspian … that the little kiss that they all had witnessed and thought off as either gross, or a sweet goodbye, had most probably held a lot more. On Susan's side that was definite, Lucy knew her, so she had noticed the changes, and although Lucy knew little about Caspian, so she couldn't really notice if it had really affected him much, both Trumpkin and Dorothy had informed her about some things which made her quiet certain that it must have and she felt sad for that. She had never accepted the fact that neither Peter nor Susan could return here, but now really being here without them, she found it even more unfair. "Are you okay?" Her question came because she had been in the room for a while now and he had not moved an inch, she walked up to him, gently putting her hand down on his arm, which startled him and she suspected that in a few seconds he had even forgotten her presence here, which was a little offending, though she easily forgave him that.

"Yeah, of course. It's nice to have you back." Caspian's reply came out as if it was perfectly rehearsed, but she knew he meant at least the latter part.

"You know. I don't know if you want to know this, but I'm going to say it anyway. She misses you, no doubt about that, but she and Peter accepted the fact that they can't return here, so … you know they're moving on. You should to." Her words were spoken out softly, almost a whisper, but every word resounded in his head over and over again. It seemed so impossible to move on.

"I don't know what Trumpkin has been …." Caspian just hoped that Trumpkin had kept his mouth shut, considering he was the only one, who gathered most of how Caspian felt about Susan and her departure.

"Not much, just the fact that you've turned eighteen and should enjoy all the attention young woman have been giving you but you just …. Don't."

"That is …"

"Look, I know I'm supposed to be just an eleven year old girl, who knows nothing about …" She was going to say the word love but stopped just in time, Caspian really didn't need to know that Lucy suspected that Susan had fallen in love with him.

"I never saw you as just an eleven year old."

"I know that. It's just that …. Aslan has always done the right thing, I am sure that he wouldn't have done the thing that he did, if he thought of it wrongly." The thing that he did, it was ridiculous how she couldn't even say, sending Susan home, because home … more and more Lucy was starting the doubt about England really being Susan's home and she didn't want to lie.

"Of course…" But his words were pronounced very unconvincingly.

"Yes, of course. You simply and it will be hard, but you will simply have to accept that you weren't meant to be." Lucy stated it as a fact and it was a fact. Aslan had sent Susan back, so they hadn't been meant to be, point, Aslan indeed never did something wrong, point. It was so simple. Then why did she suddenly doubt this all?

******

"It's funny, I heard only a few months had passed in your world, yet you seem so much more mature." Trumpkin's usual ironic voice resounded through the majestic room and Lucy spun around to find him approaching her quickly.

"More mature, me?" Although most people around her, knew she was a queen of Narnia and had an experience of doing that, of more years then she even looked like, but no one would have at the sight of her called her mature. She enjoyed being immature, being the only one free to play around like a child without getting a stern look from one or another. She remember that even as a twenty-year old she had been exactly like that and her siblings had many times wondered, if she would ever stop being like that. It was not that she could not be as wise as an adult, she could, but she would always also be as playful as a child. Counting up on that fact, was that Trumpkin had been particularly resilient against seeing her as a grown-up.

"You tend to stare in silence rather then jump around the castle, it's been a while since I've heard your usual so much occurring giggles." Trumpkin spoke out his explanation to his words and Lucy knew he was very much right. She was however surprised that he had noticed that, considering he seemed the only one to have noticed that.

"You might be right in that." Her serious answer came and she mentally kicked herself from not throwing in a joke at that, as now he might really be worried.

He was. "Is it wrong for me to think that something might be wrong? Aren't you glad to be back here?"

"Of course, I am thrilled to be here." She never wanted anyone here to think that she wasn't, because really she wasn't. It was just that it could have been so much better, if some certain other people would have been able to come along.

"Then why would you …"

"I just miss them." She didn't need to say a name or something else to indicate who she meant by them. "I knew it would be different without them, I didn't know it would be this different." Her words caused the smile on her face to fade though she had wanted to keep it there to please Trumpkin. She knew that under all the irony and witty words, Trumpkin very much was someone who would understand this, but worry too much. Like he was worried about Caspian, she didn't need him to be worried about her too, she was fine, in all honesty, she was. It was more seeing the love Caspian felt for her sister and knowing that they could never be, then not having her sister with her right now, that made her sad. "It would help me a lot if I could see more of my friends here." She quickly continued, throwing it off as a minor problem, one easy to solve. "Where is Reepicheep, or Glenstorm?"

"Hopefully not killing each other, right now."

"Killing each other?" Lucy was immediately intrigued and relieved to have found an effective aversion of the conversation.

"You know dear Reep, brave like all true Narnians, but he might be a little bit too proud of that. I mean he stays a mouse." A sudden tumult of people outside caught his attention momentarily, but he retained his focus on Lucy.

"A very noble mouse." Lucy had a thing for Reep, not only because she find him so adorable and cute.

"A very stupid one too, if he'd be smart he'd know not to think or at least speak more highly about himself then Glenstorm. If there is one thing that Glen hates then it are Narnians who speak …"

"… too much about themselves. Well, I'm glad to see some things have not yet changed here." The rivalry between Reepicheep and Glenstorm had not been as apparent before, but it nonetheless had been there, when two such noble personalities did not have a comm'n source to fight against, they would undoubtedly search one on close range. Not that the rivalry between them was so serious, it would be more banter then actual fighting, an interesting thing to watch. "But where are they now?" Lucy had not yet seen them and she would have hoped that they would have come to see her, if they had been given the chance.

"Out at the border with Elzar, they were with the first group of soldiers to go there, they were anxious to have some action again, to solve what is wrong."

"Yet you stayed here." This surprised Lucy, Trumpkin would not lose many opportunities to show what he was worth.

"I figured I'd stay with the king."

"I'm glad that you did, then at least he would have one person to talk to. That was very thoughtful of you."

"Well you know me, too good for this world …. For any world." He added and Lucy laughed, giggled even. Trumpkin's plan had worked.

Suddenly the tumult outside got louder and a horn blew and their attention immediately went towards the window, Lucy standing somewhat far from it, still managed to catch something through it, which made her run closer to stand at Trumpkin's side to see what it was. A large group was approaching the castle. It seemed to be consisting of only real Narnians, she detected Minotaurs, Centaurs, dwarves and leopards. It was no army of Caspian, which had caused the tumult, but there was no danger appearing from them, as every other held some sort of white ribbon in the air. She looked sideways at Trumpkin for a few seconds, before hurrying herself towards the door to get herself down first, it was the start of a playful competition and Trumpkin gladly took the challenge.

*******

The castle looked very much like he remembered it being, it still stood strong, stood so gigantically and immediately earned the respect of some of Peter's followers who had never seen it before.

Peter went first, of course, but nonetheless Tarino and Hernin, the two very hospital dwarves walked right behind him. It had surprised Peter how much Hernin had accepted his defeat and how quick Tarino had been able to put together the group and more importantly, considering Peter suspected he still did not fully believe him, make the group see Peter as their rightful leader.

_It had been long since Peter had been able to enjoy this so much, so he let himself take his time. He could have Hernin on his knees with a few powerful strikes, but he let the dwarf think higher of himself and only for that, did the fight go on for more then a minute. It was a fact that Hernin was a rather well fighter, his strikes were powerful even with his small posture and, more importantly, well thought through. He went for striking low to high in an instant, though Peter's sword was able to block his with ease. Peter let the dwarf attack for the first minute, blocking every attack with greatness so that Tarino could only watch and notice that the boy really was good. But then after that minute, Peter decided to end this thing, he parried another strike, before going for an uppercut then coming left and powerfully spinning, causing the dwarf, who held on to his sword with all his might, to stumble backwards and trip. He was down and Peter stood next to him, sword aimed at his heart._

"_You're going to keep yourself to your word?" Peter questioned Tarino, his sword still inches from Hernin's chest and Tarino immediately nodded, gazing at the young boy in amazement. _

"_Good." He said, taking the sword in his left hand and offering Hernin his right hand. "We're leaving tomorrow night, I'll explain the plan tomorrow morning, I want every follower you can gather to make himself known by tomorrow afternoon." As a true king, his orders came out, sternly but at the same time respectfully. It was a king's job to make his men follow his orders, but not let them be just servants._

"_You know that as soon as we show ourselves above the ground, we'll get killed." Tarino would of course follow his lead, he would keep his word, but he wanted to let this boy know what he would be facing._

"_We will beat every single enemy we will face, without loosing many of our own, I promise you that and I keep my word." Peter countered and Tarino could not help but bow, for this boy._

They lost one, got seven wounded and killed more then fifty enemies, of which Peter alone killed at least ten. Peter's lead had been magnificent, like his name, though none of his followers knew his name. He was mister unknown for them, though he held their respect as much as High king Peter the magnificent would have.

And now they were finally here, after having been caught up in six fights and having most likely killed almost all of Krelin's scouts scattered around the country between the border and the castle. The group had been split in parts, three times, but every time, thanks to magnificent co-ordination and timing, had gotten back together. They had buried their only lost man halfway through the journey, giving him a respectful grave and had made three carriages for their three more seriously wounded. So now as they stood and stared and held on to their ribbons compellingly, the group stood as a trained army, their help would be enormous and Peter knew this and he would use this against Caspian, big time.

As the bridge came down and the group moved forward and Peter prepared himself for several scenarios that would come. The first thing he planned on doing, was demanding Caspian if he knew something about his siblings and if he had not, he would depart again. He would not do anything else, would not follow any order, before he had his siblings at his side. Peter had already been in Narnia for five days in without any sight of his siblings, without any sight of Aslan and without any explanation of how he could have returned. but he had been able to put that all, far back in his head, it was there, but held down by the events going on, till now, now that his group had arrived it, it all came back and it was time to deal with it.

The bridge was down now and the group was finally able to enter the castle, they all looked at Peter waiting for what he would do, but he was too focussed on something he had totally not expected, hoped, but no expected. "Peter." The cry came together with tears and Peter had just time to turn towards the yell, though he had already recognised the voice, before the girl jumped in his arms. "How … how …" The question got stuck in her throat as she was momentarily too happy to pronounce any logic thing. Everyone and then everyone watched the exchangement, the arriving group, watched with amazement, many guessed right to think that this must be his sister, but then started to wonder where the others where, considering he had never went into specifics, but had always said siblings. The Narnians, Telmarines from the castle, watched in amazement, how there little Queen, who had been rather silent the last days, was now a bundle of joy, who giggled and cried at the same time, while she continued hugging the new arrived. Then another boy joined the club, catching Peter's attention immediately, who's smile went even wider as he went to hug the boy too and then after seconds, searched for the third. All watched his smile fall as he couldn't find that third person.

"Susan?" His question was directed at his siblings but it was another who answered.

"She's not here, but she can't possibly be here, she's in Inglind ….. supposedly with you." Caspian's voice held only part of what he was feeling right now, yet every person who could hear it, heard the confusion, heard the excitement, heard the hurt. At his sight stood a very pretty girl, golden hair hanging over her shoulders and Peter had trouble releasing her of his gaze.

"Peter, if you're here … then …" Lucy entangled herself from Peter and Edmund's grip to stare him in the eyes and he focussed himself back on her.

"I knew it." Edmund suddenly let out and all turned to him. "Didn't you feel it?" He questioned Lucy and then turned momentarily to Caspian. "Didn't we know?"

"Ed … what are you talking about?"

"It's just that .. back in England .. it was much easier to accept that you and Su would not be coming back. As hard as it was, I knew there was no other way so we could not do anything else but accept it. But coming back here … I suddenly didn't anymore, I found no logistic reason to understand how you could not come back, but I believed I was being ridiculous to think that. But now …. I think I felt like that, because deep down, I knew I shouldn't accept it, because it wasn't true. You did come back, you both came back." Edmund voice had went from seriousness to excitement and he looked at Peter with a happy glint in his eyes.

"All right … then where is she?" Peter countered, with a few words, extinguishing not only Edmund's glint, but everyone else's, because … well he was very much right, where was she? Where had she been for the last five days? Was she safe?


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry that it has been so long, to make it up I have updated two chapters at once. Enjoy!!! And review._

_Chapter five:_

"We came here to help Narnia, but to do that, all four of us must be here." Peter's tone was harsh, but that was deliberate, he had learned from Caspian that this council most likely would not immediately listen to him, for, especially the elderly, were like real Telmarines not able to accept orders from just a child. Peter had fought this off, saying that they surely would from him, .. they did not.

"In all due respect, who says that we need your help. Our armies are big enough, our plans are strong enough, we do not need some children to save the day." The words were from Sabor, but he just uttered what others also thought, offending Peter deeply.

"It might seem that you have it handled but Aslan would not send us … would not send me back for no reason." Peter looked at Caspian and couldn't help but see a little smile on the edge of his mouth, oh he surely must like it to hear that he was not the only one to think that Peter the magnificent did not need to come to save the day, for he wanted to save the day himself.

"Maybe 'the great lion' made a mistake." Lucy held in a breath as she heard the offence to Aslan and both Edmund and Peter's gazes passed each other in shock, not only due to Sabor's disrespect, but what if Aslan really made a mistake?

"Sabor." Caspian's tone was stern as he silenced him, surprisingly the fifty-year old listened. He had said what he thought, that was enough. "I am disappointed in you, though you are just the only one brave enough to utter your thoughts. These three people standing at my side, saved this land more than once, they brought this land always what it needed and this is the respect they earn for that?" Caspian let out, but he had said the wrong, there was more than one person here who believed that the last time the Pevensies had been here, Narnia had been far from saved, that they had not brought Narnia what it had needed.

"My majesty I believe he was merely suggesting that we might be strong enough to handle this … without their interference. After all, both times before Narnia needed a better leader, a better king, this is in our and most likely in your opinion not necessary at the moment." Enigio's tactic to have Caspian on his side had always been much better then Sabor's for he had most likely been one of the inventors of flattery, but the times Caspian had fallen for it were very rare.

"Enough … what is going on here? Do you stand against the idea of searching for the missing Queen? Do you believe it is rightful to ignore the fact that she is in Narnia, yet has not been able to come here, so that she might be in trouble? Do you believe that if she is we should let her stay there?" It was the beautiful girl that had caught Peter's attention before, Ellie, who spoke. "You all have two choices, or you see her as she is, a queen of Narnia, someone who in past and present is a great help to us, or you see her as just a sixteen year old girl. Either way, how proud can you be of yourself if you refuse to help her?" Her words silenced everyone and not only Peter but also his siblings stared at the unfamiliar woman with respect.

"This council has been put together, because I believed it could help me in leading this country, but you all must know that all authority lies with me. I do not like making decision without the support of my council, but if I must .. I will." Caspian didn't care if his need to do this, to search and find Susan would be too obvious, he did not care if any of what he said, would make people raise an eyebrow and question why exactly he wanted her back so desperately, he just really … really wanted her back, now that he had realised it wasn't an impossibility.

"You are right, Sis, it's just that …. Of course we are grateful of their help, we just wonder what help we would get, bringing this sixteen year old girl here."

"Devon." This time Caspian's tone wasn't stern, it was rather disappointed, he could not believe it was his friend who was uttering these words. "If you wish to ignore the fact that she is a queen of Narnia and ruled this kingdom for fifteen years, fought in many more battles then you did, meant more to Narnia then you and most of this council together can ever mean, if you wish to ignore all of that, you can at least acknowledge the fact that she can be important enough, innocent enough to not forsake her." Caspian's gaze held Devon during his entire tirade and Devon swallowed, not having expepted such a burst out from his friend. Of course he had been stupid enough to forget that Caspian knew her.

"Of course we must search for her." Dorothy let out, her gaze passing the three Pevensie children before resting on Caspian, letting him know that she was at his side, like she would always be. Yes she was almost ten years older than him and so she had been sceptic of him in the beginning. But he had earned her respect and really, all the Pevensie children had already earned her respect too. It was only with Caspian's reign that the literature about them was back mandatory to study in your education, so she had long missed that, but she knew enough, these kids were far greater than just kids.

"You can have a group of fifteen of my soldiers, majesty, more if you find that necessary, not because you order it, but because I order it." Iricla let out her support and suddenly it was obvious that three woman of the council stood against all the rest, needless to say, to Caspian's somewhat surprise these three had always been the three Caspian respected and liked the most of his council, except Devon of course. The council was with thirteen total. The three woman, Iricla, Dorothy and Ellie first, then you had Devon, Sabor and Enigio, the three who were mostly the ones to speak, whether they agreed or disagreed. Then you had Loridon and Terinos, the two centaurs, the two most wise, yet most silent ones of the council. They had to endure a lot of scepticism of the rest of the council, which might also be why they were so silent. Then you had Illerco, second commander of the castle's army, full of himself all the time and disappointed to stand under Iricla's lead. Benjamin and Radimir were the youngsters of the council, both 24, both macho's. They too, liked to speak out their mind and found it necessary to compete against Caspian on any possible way, but at least they, mostly, were honest enough to acknowledge their defeat. The fourth female, Adriana, the last one, was a silent shadow, there, but barely. She had only uttered a few words since she got on the council, but though the importance of her was sometimes a bit unknown, Caspian could not imagine her not being here. And that made the council of thirteen, though with all the differences, generally a functioning group … mostly.

"Thank you." Caspian told her, a little smile back as he had at least these three females on his side.

"Of course, my king, you have our support. You all have." Benjamin let out, first only directing himself to Caspian but then correcting himself and letting his gaze pass first Lucy then Edmund and last Peter. Caspian was right, Benjamin was always honest enough to admit his defeat but this was no defeat for him, he wondered how many could not see what seemed to radiate from the Pevensies. They were kings and queen, that seemed obvious to him.

"You should depart in a few hours." Caspian turned himself to Peter. "I will make sure everything is ready by then."

"What about you?" Lucy questioned, knowing just how much Caspian missed Susan and wanted her at his side.

"I have to stay here, Lucy, I can't abandon my castle." He let out, not letting his regret with that, shine through.

"It can be dangerous Lucy. This kingdom can't afford to lose their king, if we land in a trap." Peter let out, knowing only later that he made a mistake by saying that. "You will stay here too, as will Edmund."

"What?" Edmund was both shocked and disappointed, how dare Peter do that, decide that? How could he expect him to sit here and do nothing?

"But … someone must come with you." Caspian let out, staring at Peter intently, not quite sure what he was planning with all of this.

"I will." Caspian's head shot up to meet Devon's eyes. "I apologise for what I said, Caspian. Of course I know she is important enough to do this, which is why I will accompany High king Peter."

"Good, that's set then." Peter let out, silencing his brother's upcoming protest with one look and letting his look pass over every member of the council before resting his gaze on Ellie again. She smiled with the attention and stared intently back. "I'd better get myself ready." And with that, he turned on his heels and left the council first, something that normally only his majesty, Caspian the tenth, was allowed to do, which caused every person to watch him go in shock.

"I believe we have never formerly met." Peter let out, unbelievable to himself, nervous at the moment.

"No, I believe we haven't." She let out and found herself staring in his eyes again, she had been staring at him way too much lately, ever since she had laid her eyes on him she had almost never stopped. "I am Ellie Carrero, my brother Devon, is coming with you."

"Hello Ellie, I am Peter Pevensie, brother of Lucy, Edmund and Susan." Peter extended his hand, for her to lie hers in his and she watched it curiously before accepting it.

"Peter Pevensie, right? So no, High king Peter, the Magnificent?" She let out and Peter, like a girl, almost blushed. "I can just call you Pete?"

"If you want, yes." Peter let out and she smiled widely. "I actually came here to thank you, you were a great support of my family in the council."

"I found it only logic to act … Peter. Unlike most of the people of the council, I have read and heard almost all stories about you." She let out. "I therefore found it logic to speak out my mind."

"Well, I didn't found it all that logic, your own brother didn't seem to agree with you."

"My brother got an entirely different education than me. My parents educated him, mostly my father, who ignored the myths like so many. I on the other hand, was educated by my grandparents, my mom's parents, they thought very differently about that subject." Ellie let out more then she intended. She didn't speak a lot about her past, though aged seven when losing her parents, it was still a very sore subject.

"How much older is your brother?" Peter questioned, as he had already been aware of her father's death, thanks to a very cautious question he had asked Caspian and believed she would not like to talk about that again.

"Six years, I'm fifteen, he's twenty-one. " She let out. "He's very trained in sword-fighting, he used to spend hours training it and he's been Caspian's sparring partner for the last months. He always wants to protect me you know, so he found it necessary to train very hard, so that later, he could take down every single man who would dare approach me." She let out, somewhat teasingly, very much flirtingly.

Of course Devon didn't scare him, but it did make Peter even more cautious, though it also made Devon earn Peter's respect. "It seems that your brother and I have some things in comm'n." He let out and she smiled.

"He also has a great mind and is fantastic in co-ordination, he'll be a huge help."

"You think we'll find her?" Peter let out, considering that troubled him the most, of course his group of followers together with the twenty soldiers of Iricla and Devon and him could scout a lot of country, but wasn't the search for Susan, like a needle in a haystack?

"Yes … yes." She let out, of course she wasn't sure, but she didn't find it so difficult to lie.

"I better get going." He then said.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Peter Pevensie." She let out, accepting his hand easier this time as he extended it towards.

"You too, Ellie Carrero." He said, bringing her hand suddenly towards his lips to kiss it and she very prominently blushed, before he walked off and she watched him go.

"Dorothy, you're almost saying that our journey went all for nothing." Kijan was saddened about how she could speak so badly about what they had gone through, he himself found that there was no way that the men that they lost had died for nothing, hadn't they gotten what they had wanted with this trip?

And even if she found this had went so wrong, was it really necessary to tell this to Lucy and Edmund?

"Of course not, I am just saying that we had better expectations of this trip. At least I did. And I'm not the only one, if you speak about it with Caspian you'll learn that he shares my opinion." Dorothy let out, turning her attention momentarily towards Kijan before looking back at Lucy and Edmund. They had placed themselves in one of the, thanks to Caspian, more comfortable and intimate rooms of the council. She was placed next to Kijan while, Lucy and Edmund sat next to each other across from them. "We almost died, Kijan. You almost died three times, we are very lucky to have been able to come back here in one piece … I believe that that was not what we had expected."

"Is it so dangerous then in Narnia?" Edmund questioned.

It was a question that Dorothy did not want to have to answer, for she would feel obliged to lie and she hated lying, for that, she was almost happy to have Kijan answer it … almost. "Yes, in all honesty yes, close to this castle, no, but the closer you get to Elzar … there are a lot of traps you can walk into and even though your brother must have cleaned the land of some of them, I am positive there are many more."

"But how is that possible? How could Caspian not prevent that?" Edmund let out, he had never been Caspian's biggest supporter and he wasn't about to start.

"Caspian does all the best he can, but …. He feels obliged to have his entire council behind him, with every decision that he makes and you have seen them and listened in … it slows down everything. Where Caspian wanted a quick and swift and very smart reaction, a few voted against it … by the time they agreed a few days had passed."

"But why doesn't he just pursue his own thoughts? I mean if he is right … why wait till he gets everyone's approval? I know for a fact that his uncle never did that." Lucy let out, not knowing that she had already answered her own question.

"It is that Caspian is doing everything in his power to be as little like his uncle as he can. He promised the people of Narnia, everyone of them, Narnians but also Telmarines, that he would change things, make them better, he had not expected the Narnians and Telmarines to have such different views of what is better, he had never dared to expect that Narnians and Telmarines would not be able to get along. That shows in the council .. for some reason Caspian needs Terinos approval, he needs to know the centaur stands behind him. But then Terinos questions Caspian what it will gain towards the Narnians, for they are the core of Narnia and then of course do men like Sabor and Enigio jump on that, to complain and say that Telmarines are just as important if not more important and then it takes more then a day to calm things down and no decision is made." Dorothy was obviously tired of the way things were going in the council.

"But Caspian must know that what people need more then a council that doesn't agree is a king who is able to lead a country on his own and do it well." Lucy said.

"And there you have it." Kijan let out, piercing the little girl with his eyes, or was she piercing him? "Our king is afraid that he will not do it well on his own."

"_I do not think that I'm ready." Caspian said, still kneeling in _

_front of Aslan and hoping that Aslan would not show too much _

_disappointment at his words._

"_It is for that reason that I know you are."_

"But Aslan himself told him that he was ready." Lucy uttered. She knew very well that Caspian was on some times very sure of what was right and some time later so unsure of whether it was really right, but she had believed, or more hoped, that he would know by now that he could trust his own decisions.

"He was also the only one." Kijan replied. "He has at least ten people every day telling him he is too young and too inexperienced to lead a country as big as this and do it well. With you four leaving him, Aslan leaving him and his own professor disappearing of the horizon, he had no one who knew him and believed in him.

"But you believe in him, don't you?" Lucy countered, switching her gaze between Dorothy and Kijan who, somewhat ashamed both avoided her gaze.

"People gave him a hard time … we most certainly took part in it." Dorothy let out and Lucy suddenly felt a lot less sympathise towards the two, so lovely people sitting in front of her. She, with her three siblings, could understand only little of how it must be to stand at the top, completely on your own with little if not no people below you who supported you, but already it felt horrible. She would have never meant any good to Narnia, without her three siblings, she knew that. Not necessarily because she couldn't do good on her own, but she couldn't without knowing that they backing her.

"Peter was not even sixteen when he was crowned king and he was the oldest of us. Lucy was nine, yet we never had defend ourselves for every decision that we took. He doesn't deserve to be treated like that." Edmund suddenly spoke. Of course Caspian and him weren't best mates, but he knew Caspian was a good king, at least if he got the chance.

"The Narnia you ruled over is a lot different than this Narnia." Kijan countered and Lucy and Edmund both couldn't help but agree.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter six:_

"How long exactly has it been here?" Peter's voice suddenly called out and Caspian spun around to face the high king.

"Eleven months and seven days." The words came out of his mouth, only then realising that it might not be too good to let Peter know that he had been literally counting the days since him and his siblings had departed.

"That's not all that long." Peter countered and Caspian's face turned to confusion, he had no idea where this was leading to, but he was afraid that he did not want to know either.

"Depends on how you look at it." He replied and Peter got a somewhat satisfied smile on his face.

"If you look at the history of Narnia, or even the history of us, the kings and queens of old, it is fairly short." Peter said back, walking a few steps closer to Caspian who watched him going with careful eyes, debating whether it wouldn't be best to break their conversation off now, while it was still going somewhat civilised, he had this idea that that was about to change.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"How long have you given these people here peace? Half a year? It's not all that long." Peter came to his point.

"I have given my people peace as long as I could give them peace, I am currently preventing a next war as long as I can, even though some people disagree. If you come here to accuse me off leading this country from war to war then you better leave now." Caspian had been accused of pretty much everything. But the one thing that he would never let people tell about him, was that he thrived for war, he hated war.

"Well what do you expect? That I came here and congratulate you? Wow, Caspian, you have really turned out to be the best king Narnia could ever have." Peter let out his thoughts and stared at Caspian accusingly.

"Of course I don't expect you to do that, who could ever live up to the magnificent king that you were?" Caspian was not about to let the words of the always so proud Peter tear him down, at least … that was what he tried to do.

"At least I kept my kingdom safe for fifteen years."

"On your own right?" Caspian let out, hating Peter momentarily for almost forgetting that he, as opposed to Caspian, had never been alone, of course he had been high king, but Caspian was certain he could have never brought the prestige to Narnia without the helps of his siblings, mere king and queens. "Look, Peter. I understand that you think you will always be the best Narnia can have, that you can come to save the day and make everything right, but I started from nothing. You left thinking you had restored all the peace, you are very wrong, peace was far from restored, I had two groups of people having all kinds of expectations from me, having very different expectations of me. But I tried and have succeeded most of the times to please both, I will not let you make me believe otherwise. So do not expect me to give you the authority in all you do, because as far as it goes, I stay sole king of the current Narnia. But yes, Narnia is not in peace, not completely at least and Narnia is not safe and I most likely have a war to prepare for, therefore I am glad of your return, I am glad to have all of you back."

"Right … just some more than the others." Peter mumbled the last piece as Caspian had already been turning away, but he had heard it.

"Excuse me." He let out, spinning back to face Peter.

"I believe that you will be specifically happy when my sister will return here, more happy then with mine or my other sister and brother's return … am I not right?" Peter let out, knowing it might not be the right time to speak about his sister and Caspian, but at the same time, he wanted to let Caspian know some things before Susan would arrive here. One of them being that him and Susan were just never … ever going to work. Caspian was far from good enough to deserve someone as wonderful as his sister.

"I will enjoy having all of you back, but of course I can't deny that I tend to be more happy with the people who not always search to have a quarrel with me, your sister as opposed to you is one of those people, yes."

"Oh, try not even to go there … I know you have feelings for my sister. I ask you not to act on them."

"Peter, let me make this fairly simple, if your sister wants nothing of me, then she shall get nothing of me, but if your sister wants me in her life, there is no way that I won't give that to her. Whether you like it or not." Caspian said, staring Peter down with a stern look before turning away from him again. "By the way, your soldiers are ready, I dearly hope your mission will be successive, for all of our sake." Caspian let out as last words, before walking off.

She didn't know how long she had been here now, it seemed like weeks, it must be days. She had barely seen her kidnappers over the last days, which was probably the best, she most likely had a concussion which left her with not much to think about, as thinking hurt, but then again, everything seemed to hurt. Susan had learned a lot by this unpleasant adventure already. One was not try to escape unless you were absolutely certain it would work, because when you get hit unconscious a second time, it doesn't just double the pain, it triples it. She was seeing everything a bit fuzzy now, which could also be the reason why her kidnappers were leaving her alone, they probably guessed right to think that if she was barely able to stand on her legs, she would definitely not be able to run away, again.

But they had learned from their mistakes too, her hands were now tied behind her back, which had prevented her from being able to stand up. That however did not stop her trying and now, for the probably tenth times, her hands behind her back searched support on the wall and she tried to get up … she failed.

"Damn." She muttered, as she fell back down again, her legs and arms were not yet corresponding, she knew she would not be able to stand straight before she had two hands to help her. She needed to untie herself first. As she scanned the floor she was sitting on, she suddenly found something that could help close by, some kind of crate, it looked to have a sharp edge. She shuffled herself towards it and put her hands over a corner. She then started scraping, noticing quickly that it had as much effect as she had hoped for. Though in the dark she could not see and there sometimes scraped against her arms, causing even more cuts to come there, she succeeded in barely a minute to have her hands free.

"All right, comm'n Susan." She encouraged herself, while she leaned against the wall and slowly and successfully tried to stand up again. Leaning on her hand which was put on the wall, she slowly made her way through the house. She didn't believe anyone actually lived here, considering it was such a mess; dust piling high up everything. While looking around, she suddenly couldn't believe her luck and walked as fast as she could towards the bow that was lying in a corner. It was dusty and it seemed far from strong, but it would do. She didn't know how high her chances were, probably not all that high, but she decided that this time the chance of succeeding lay higher and she just had to try. Three arrows lay besides it and although she couldn't know for sure that she could actually work with them, she hoped bluffing would be enough.

As she made her way towards the only door that she saw, she looked around thoroughly and suspiciously and was happy to see that her sight was approving quickly. Although there were several unexplainable black spots in her vision and not everything was clear, she managed to make no sound at all, as she passed the several boxes, furniture and objects on the floor. Opening the door slowly, she saw no one at first side and then she threw the door open, running as quickly as she could.

Soon however she was discovered. "Hey." Someone yelled, but she didn't even bother looking backwards to see who he was. She ran quickly noticing that also this house had seemed to be one of the most remote houses her kidnappers could probably find. Her vision seemed well enough to avoid falling over branches or roots, but her luck was soon to change. Just like last time, a figure doomed up in front of her, but this time she was able to remain standing and quickly put her bow ready, dropping two arrows on the ground and pointing the remaining arrow to the man's heart.

"Dar was really right to call you feisty." The same person as before spoke up and Susan's eyes narrowed, making sure that he was right on target. If this arrow would only slightly word, then she was able to cause her attacker a lot of pain.

"I would not come any closer if I was you. Let's call it a warning." Susan spoke as she remained just as focussed. The man seemed to listen to her words for a few seconds, which made her breath a little bit easier, but then he suddenly moved closer to her. "You really don't want me to do this." Susan pointed out, but the man just smirked.

She then made a small prayer to herself, as she stopped breathing and took a shot. The man screamed loudly, dropping to the ground while his both arms went towards his penetrated leg. "I couldn't say that I didn't warn you." Susan spoke, as she retrieved the other two arrows and ran away, hearing the cursing man behind her, but that fading quickly and by the time she turned around to look again, he was nowhere in sight.

She went then back to walking, knowing that then she'd be faster ready to take another shot as she knew well enough that his brother had to be here somewhere and had most probably heard his brother's cry out. As her breathing started to return to normal, Susan suddenly realised how screwed up this all was. She had no idea where she was, or where her siblings were, nor why she was here, except to obviously make things better. As she walked on for a few minutes her focus on possible attackers fading slowly, getting tired quickly, her headache returned full force, as did her fuzzy vision and she remained standing for a while, trying to get her head clear.

"Oh Aslan, a little help can't hurt right now." She whispered out loud towards her surroundings, but except the wind breezing through the trees and her own breathing, no sounds were heard, no sign was seen.

Susan was leaning against a tree, slowly raising one arm to touch the bump that she had gotten from the multiple hits on her head, when a sound suddenly caught her attention and she quickly made her bow ready, looking thoughtfully around her.

She heard multiple horses and multiple men, yelling some things, approaching her quickly. She dropped one arrow and she raised her bow for a second time, before she realised that she would never be able to take on all of them and decided to better go to try to hide. However before she was able to do anything, a rider had appeared who, at the sight of her, dismounted of his horse.

She quickly reacted, raising her bow again and getting ready to shoot if necessary. He however didn't even reach for his sword and he walked slowly towards her. "Are you Susan?" He questioned but she refused to give him a reply to that, though she didn't believe her kidnappers had known who exactly she was, this Telmarine was supposed to know her as queen Susan, ignoring her title, was speaking without respect and that caused her to become more suspicious. "It's all right, I'm not gonna hurt you." He tried unsuccessfully to reassure her. Her bow didn't waver and her look stood still on ready-to-kill. "So you can stop pointing that at me. I'm on your side."

"And what side is that?" She questioned, while she made no attempt at all to lower the bow. If not she was more ready to shoot than ever, she was not foolishly enough to believe that this guy actually really wanted to help her, did she. No matter how much her heart wanted to tell her that he could. It was just that she had decided not to trust anyone anymore, though that was far from her usual self.

"All right, what can I do to prove that I want to help you?" Devon questioned, he had never suspected his first meeting with Susan to go like this. He was not stupid, he noticed the bruising on her forehead and the scared look in her eye. Peter had been right to think that she hadn't gotten as much luck as him and his brother and sister had had. That said, he noticed also immediately her beauty and where normally he'd immediately imagine her naked, now he suddenly felt another feeling. He just wanted her to trust him. And then of course, he noticed her strength, she held on to her bow with expertise and her look was strong, very different then most female he knew. She, maybe even more then her brothers and sisters, really had the appearance of a queen.

"You know my name, how?" She questioned, simultaneously slightly lowering her bow. She could still hear other soldiers and horses close by. And knew that if he wanted to kill her, he would have done that already by now.

"How do I know that your Queen Susan, the gentle? We've been searching for you for a while already." He suddenly smirked and she raised her bow again. He swallowed, clearly this was not the way to get her to trust him.

"Searching for me?"

"Yes … together with your brother, Peter. Honestly, my queen, we considered that you might be in trouble, so we came here to help you … I came here on orders of my king … your brother went along." Well that was not exactly right, he went along with her brother, he did not even know why he would tell such a subtle lie.

"My brother, you know where my brother is?" She suddenly let out, her bow again on the ready as she looked at him with a fierce look. "I demand you to let my brother go, right now or I release …"

"I have not kidnapped your brother …. He came voluntarily." Devon let out, putting a step closer to her, which of course he should not have done. She almost let her arrow lose, though scared shitless, she was not about to show any sign of that to him.

"If you put one step closer to me, I swear I let this arrow pierce your heart."

"Look …" He was getting tired of this, how could so many woman fall for his knees the second they saw him, yet she still seemed able to kill him? Did she not understand that if he wanted to kidnap or kill her, he would have done that by now? "I came here because both your brother and King Caspian wanted to find you."

"King Caspian?" She lowered her bow in surprise, staring at him wide-eyed with this new piece of information. It could not be Caspian the tenth, right? Her Caspian?

"Yes, you know him right. I came on his orders now do you think he would want to harm you?

His words caught her completely of guard and she almost forgot she was still holding her bow, almost dropping it at the ground. Though not having suspected this reaction, he was glad with it and decided to use it to his advantage, he was at her side in an instant and before she had the chance to jump back, he had grabbed the bow out of her eyes, leaving her unprotected and very vulnerable, with this acknowledge Susan could now not stop the fear from reaching her eyes and she put several steps back, slamming into a tree, almost trembling as she waited for him, to point her own bow and arrow to her. He just held it in his hand, contemplating on what to do now, he then lowered and picked up the arrow he had noticed lying.

"Please." Her plea came suddenly and very silently and he wondered if it was even directed to him as his head shot up to meet her with fear striked face and saw her looking around her.

"Susan." Another voice called out and her heart jumped up, as she turned her attention away from Devon to the other man approaching. Peter was still sitting on his horse when he approached her and he smiled reassuringly to her. He then dismounted of his horse too, rushing towards her as he saw the state she was in and took her in his arms. She immediately wrapped her arms around his chest, putting her head down on his shoulder and for the first time in a while she was able to breathe deeply in and out and return calm.

"What the hell were you doing?" He questions turning himself towards Devon as he watched him weighing the bow up and down. "Can't you see how scared you've made her? She's just been kidnapped." Peter let out, while Susan was too relieved to care or try to listen to what Peter was uttering out, if she would … she probably would have reacted.

"I tried to get her to trust me."

"Yeah, well you seemed to be very successful in that." Peter uttered at the last, before stroking Susan's head and then getting her to look at him. "Before you ask something, Edmund and Lucy are fine, they're with Caspian and you landed in Elzar, which is not Narnia, Narnia is still somewhat peaceful, at least more peaceful then what you have faced."

"So Caspian is really still alive?" She spoke out and though so happy to have her safe, he couldn't help but sighing.


End file.
